Smokescreen: Frozen River (2008)

Frozen River is an American crime drama written and directed by Courtney Hunt. The screenplay focuses on a desperate but uneasy alliance of two working-class women. One is Ray Eddy, mother of two who has been abandoned by her gambling husband, the other is Lila, a widowed Mohawk who smuggles illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States. Frozen River is a character study of a hard willed woman who is determined to do what it takes to provide for her children. It is a story of need and grim realism, grounded on the struggle for economic survival. The idea for the film says Hunt, came from stories she and her husband had heard about Mohawks smuggling cigarettes by driving across the Saint Lawrence River, where it forms part of the international border between Canada and the United States, when it froze over. Frozen River was shot in sub-freezing temperatures on location in Clinton County in upstate New York over a period of twenty-four days in March 2007.

Starring: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham and Charlie McDermott